A Family Matter
by Shadowed-Angel 321
Summary: Mai Haninozuka, second child of the Haninozuka head, has never been to Japan before. Cast away at birth, she had never wanted to meet her long-lost family. But now her mom has died, and she has no choice. Along for the ride she brings her six best friends, all with sad pasts and dark secrets. What will they find in Japan, or more specifically, Music Room 3? Anime & Manga. OCsxHosts
1. A New Life

Chapter 1: A New Life

Mai* breathed in deeply before releasing a sigh. "Well girls, we're here."

She looked over her shoulder to her friends who stood there, gazing up at the hotel they were to be staying at. It was... big. Really, really big.

Mai took a deep breath to settle her nerves, before gesturing for her friends to follow her into the (rather intimidating) hotel.

They picked up their luggage and dragged it to the front desk, where a stuck-up looking desk clerk was watching their little group make their way towards his desk.

"May I help you," he sniffed condescendingly towards them. Mai opened her mouth, but (unfortunately) Bridgett beat her to the punch.

"Yeah, you can actually. You can shut your mouth and treat us with a little more respect, you bas-"

"Bridgett," Brittany told her sister warningly. She understood her sister was irritable from the long plane ride, and from being separated from their brother, but she shouldn't take it out on the desk clerk. Even if he was a diva. Bridgett sighed through her nose, but listened to her sister's one-word warning.

The two girls were identical, but only physically (for the most part). However, their personalities differed greatly. Whereas Bridgett was passionate and competitive, Brittany was calm and slightly sarcastic, the water to douse her sisters fire when something angered her (a rather common occurrence).

The two girls and their brother had joined their gang a little under five years ago, and had fit right in. Both girls had black hair (though Bridgett's went a little past her shoulders with an electric blue streak in her bang covered partially by a beanie, and Brittany's went to her hips, with bangs cut straight across her eyebrows and kept constantly in a loose braid or ponytail), and stormy grey eyes that glowed silver when they were happy.

"Keep that little girl in line or I will be forced to call security," the man hissed. Bridgett twitched.

Though Mai was not pleased with the desk clerk, she was polite, just as she had been taught by her mom (may she rest in peace). "Please excuse my friend, she doesn't handle idiots well," she said in a charming tone of voice. She smiled innocently when the desk clerk spluttered. Well, she was sorta polite.

The man gave an impressive growl and opened his mouth - presumably to call the aforementioned security - but the tallest one of their group, Lainie, slammed her hand down on his desk, making the man jump. "Oi, we 'have a room 'ere mistah," she said in her thick Scottish accent.

Lainie was 5' 10" with hair that would put oranges to shame tied up in a side ponytail with bangs neatly parted and brushed to the sides hazel eyes. Though her height intimidated some, she was really very motherly and a little shy (though stubborn is a good adjective too). She, her father, and her younger sister had immigrated to America when she was eleven, one year older than the rest of the girls. Unfortunately, back in Scotland, she struggled with her schooling, and was held back in America. But in some ways it was good as well, because that was how she met the rest of the group.

"...Excuse me?"

Mai twitched; this man was excessively annoying (what with the way he tried to fake a French accent in his nasally voice and constantly looked down said nose at them), and she and the others had jet lag (making none of them very pleasant company), and, therefore, not the patience to deal politely with ass-hats like she usually did .

"Look, she said we have a room here. It should be under the name 'Haninozuka'."

The man flinched and checked his records. Oh yes, he knew what a big deal the Haninozuka's were.

"Ah yes. Floor 27, Room 103," the man said in a syrupy sweet voice, shockingly polite compared to before. He raised his hand and gestured for a bellhop. "Here are your room keys, now please have a nice day."

The girls turned around at his forceful tone which insisted goodbye. Candy grabbed Lacy's wheelchair as the bellhop grabbed their bags. Candy and Lacy were the last to join their rag-tag group (with Lainie being first, the sisters and their brother being second, and Candy and Lacy joining within months of each other). Candy's real name was Candace, but nobody called her that. She was the second tallest at 5' 9" and had deep auburn hair tied tightly back in two pigtails on the sides of her head that came down to her chin, and one wild strand of hair that refused to be tamed and instead always flew in front of her round baby-blue eyes. The girls had met her when they were eleven (well, Lainie was twelve). Their school in New York was sister schools with Candy's down in Tennessee and had decided it would be good to have a student exchange program. When they first saw met her, she had tripped over her own feet and face-planted.

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Lacy the smallest of all of them at 4' 10" with a delicate build and skinny limbs. She was also confined to a wheelchair due to an unfortunate accident when she was young. She was the most mysterious and intelligent of all of them (thanks to her photographic memory), but was also rather cute in an elegant way, with bangs that had once been straight-cut like Brittany's but had grown out to brush messily into her midnight blue eyes. The remainder of her dark brown/nearly black hair was pulled into a spiky ponytail at the back of her head. Her orphanage in Oregon, at the time, was having trouble with overpopulation. They, much like Candy's school was sisters with an orphanage in the Big Apple. It was, incidentally, just a couple blocks from Mai and her mother's apartment. One day, Mai was passing it by on her way to school and she saw Lacy going down the sidewalk in her wheelchair. She came up, grabbed the handles, and took Lacy to school. The rest, as they say, is history.

The girls made their way to the elevator through the nearly empty lobby, and waited for the doors to open.

"If everyone in Japan's as rude as that dude, I'm going to have a serious problem," Bridgett declared.

Brittany rolled her eyes at her sister's theatrics. "You always have a serious problem."

The elevator 'ding'ed, and the doors slid open. Bridgett twitched and walked in, muttering, "Not my fault everyone's an idiot." Brittany just patted her shoulder.

As the elevator moved slowly upward, Candy shifted from foot to foot before finally squealing, "Aren't y'all excited?!"

Mai smiled at her hyperactive friend as her comment sparked conversation between the girls. Yes, she was pretty excited to be going to Japan. But... she was worried.

"Hey Mai, you're pretty quiet. Aren't you excited too?" asked Lacy. She always was the most observant of all of them.

"I am," Mai agreed, "it's just... what if they don't like me? I mean, we've never met, and he did cast me and mom away."

* * *

I suppose some background information is needed. You see, Mai's full name is Mai Haninozuka. Fifteen years ago, she was born as the second child to the current Haninozuka head. And as the first girl in eight generations in the Haninozuka line. Her father wasn't very happy about a girl, apparently. According to her mom, Haninozuka tradition stated at least two sons needed to be born to the clan head; one to be the heir and the other to be his right hand man and replacement, should anything happen to the first-born (Mai winced at the harshness of the words and the bitterness her mother's voice laced them in).

One year after Mai was born, her mom gave birth to a second son. She spoke adoringly about the little boy, and kept several pictures of both boys in a huge album, as well as in a silver locket which now hung around Mai's neck.

(Mai once asked why she had so many pictures. Her mother replied that, "I knew we were going to leave as soon as Yasuchika was born. I wanted to capture as many memories of my babies as I could.")

Mai's little seven-year old heart broke when she learned why she didn't have a dad like all the other kids.

Her father viewed her as a disgrace.

After that, she hasn't cried once over her lost family. She was content to live her life with only her mother in their small Manhattan apartment and, later, her friends.

But then mom died.

* * *

There was silence in the elevator as they absorbed their friend's worries.

Lainie was the first to speak. "Dun' worry. Ya said 'e sounded remorseful," she said, her thick accent and lisp twisting the words. After five years with her, though, the girls could understand her perfectly.

"Yeah! Besides," Candy chimed in, "worryin' will give ya wrinkles."

"Spoken like a true cheerleader," Bridgett quipped sardonically. Candy just immaturely stuck her tongue out at her.

Mai felt a small hand on her forearm and looked down to see Lacy's reassuring midnight gaze. The whole elevator hushed as Lacy spoke her words of wisdom: "'Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.'"

It was silent for one moment more before Brittany smiled and laughed softly before asking, "Who said it?"

Lacy cracked a small grin. "a guy named Joshua J. Marine."

Mai smiled and snorted softly as she watched her friends converse. She decided that it didn't matter what her long-lost family thought of her. As long as she had this family, she'd be alright.

* * *

*a Japanese girl's name that means 'dance'

Sorry it's so short, the next one will be longer. I don't know how often I will update, as I am a lazy freshman with an evil teacher who hands out homework like candy (which it's not... it's really not), but reviews will help motivate me!

P.S.: I will be extending or shortening periods of time between episodes so I can fit the story in comfortably. However, I will not be switching up the order of the episodes (probably).

P.P.S.: I will also be adding some characters from the manga (because Mori-senpai needs a brother), but not all of them. Also, I will be adding some manga-verse arcs. If you want me to continue along the manga story line after the last episode of the anime, however, just say so in a review or PM to me. Also, if you haven't read the manga and I _do _continue it along that story line, it's okay. I will make it easy to understand so that you don't have to read the manga.

P.P.P.S. (last one, I promise): If the Hosts are OOC, or seem OOC to you, I apologize. I find some of them hard to write for, but I will try my best. If you want, you can leave in a review if you think they are OOC and/or tell me how to correct it.

Arigato for reading my first (real) story and please review. Sayonara~!


	2. Welcome to Japan

Chapter 2: Welcome to Japan

Hani was pacing nervously back and forth across his room. His breathing was steadily quickening and he clutched Usa-chan even tighter. He was, to be blunt, pretty darn nervous.

Even though he had nearly a week (which wasn't actually that long, to be frank) to prepare for this, he wasn't ready. He started to mumble his worries aloud. "I mean, what if she hates me? Or her friends hate me? What if I don't like her (Actually, I'm not too worried about this one)? W-what if Chika-chan hates her?" Oh god. That last one was actually plausible. Though he hated to criticize his little brother ('little' being a relative term), Chika-chan didn't like most people and could be really disagreeable at times. Hani was pretty sure a long-lost sister neither of them had never met before wouldn't be the exception.

* * *

Okay, let me explain. Three weeks ago, Yorihisa Haninozuka, Honey's father and head of the Haninozuka clan, received a phone call from America from a mysterious young girl. Imagine his surprise when she revealed she was his daughter, whom he had cast away along with her mother six months after Yasuchika was born (To be fair, though, he was being pressured by the clan elders). Three days after the five hour phone conversation, the Haninozuka head called his two sons to the dojo, told them to sit down. He then revealed the information that had Hani pacing across his room (and Yasuchika too, he was just better at hiding his shock).

They had a sister.

Yorihisa did not reveal the details of the phone conversation, only that over the years he had come to regret the loss of his daughter and wife, and would be bringing Hani's sister back into the family.

It was silent for a moment. "Why is she coming now?" Hani asked, his voice small from shock. He didn't mean to sound rude, _really_... but why now? Why not before?

Yorihisa was stoic when he told Honey about how his mother had died two weeks ago in America, where she moved after she was cast out of the Haninozuka clan.

Hani was unexpectedly calm about his mothers death. He had never really known her (aside from a warm presence and blond hair in his earliest memories), as she left when he was only about four, and his father never talked about her. Hani mourned her, of course, but he shed only one tear.

His sister, however, was another story.

* * *

Hani bit his lip as he heard the front door opening from his room. '_Oh my gosh, did she come early? She wasn't supposed to come until tomorrow night!_'

He took a few deep breaths to calm down, reminding himself that it was _waaay _too early in the morning to be worrying like this, and that it was probably just Chika-chan going to the dojo for his usual morning training.

Hami blinked as the cellphone on his bedside table hummed, blaring out a cute tune (that he picked, of course).

"…Huh?" he muttered, confused. He picked up the phone and saw that it was the reminder that he had set up for himself yesterday. "'_Going to Kyo-chan's water park with Host Club. Don't forget Usa-chan inner tube. :3_' Oh yeah!" Honey giggled, excited to be hanging out with his friends this weekend. He shut off his phone and slipped it into his back pocket. He made to open the door to call for a maid, but then paused. His sister was coming tomorrow. _Tomorrow_. If he did go off to play with the Host Club, he definitely wouldn't be able to come back in time to greet her and her friends (seeing as whenever the Host Club does _anything_, something inevitably goes wrong and they take a lot longer than they should).

He bit his lip, struggling to decide as he rocked back and forth on his heels, the doorknob still clenched in his hand. He _really_ wanted to go to the water park and play with everybody. But on the other hand… his sister. _He was terrified of meeting her._ All of the worries and fears that had been eating him alive before he was interrupted came back and his spinning pink flowers wilted to dust. He… he couldn't do it. Not just yet.

'_But family is important! You've faced much bigger opponents than one girl and her friends!_' one side of his brain argued. '_But… but I'm not prepared to meet her! What if I say or do something stupid and she and her friends hate me! And besides, the Host Club needs me!_' the other side reasoned. There wasn't a response, and Honey briefly wondered that maybe the worry was literally driving him crazy.

Ah well. He shrugged off his worries for the moment, took a deep breath to wash away the fear, and shouted for his maid to pack a couple suitcases for him; he was going to Kyoya's water park!

He felt (extremely) guilty and cowardly about not greeting his sister, and he knew his dad wouldn't be happy with him at all (he wasn't quite happy with himself either), but he would use the vacation at Kyo-chan's to calm down and get prepared to _finally_ meet his long-lost sister.

…Whom he just realized he didn't know the name of.

Oops

* * *

Mai breathed in and out rapidly, fanning herself with her hand in a lame attempt to calm down (It didn't work, it really didn't). As she paced back and forth across the carpet of her hotel room, she twisted the end of one of her two braids between her fingers, a nervous habit.

There was a sudden knock at her door. She jumped and rushed to answer it, flinging her right braid back over her shoulder. Unfortunately, she flung it too hard and it came back around and smacked her in the face right as she opened the door (A/N: I do this sometimes… -_-).

She heard laughter as she rubbed her stinging nose and glared at Bridgett, who was the only one outright laughing (the others at least had the decency to attempt to muffle their snickers). She sighed and opened the door wider for them. Lainie was already inside, as her and Mai shared a room; as did Candy and Lacy, and Bridgett and Brittany.

"Is everybody ready?" she asked anxiously.

"Yes~," Candy chirped, letting go of the handles of Lacy's wheelchair and spinning around. "And may I say, y'all look gorgeous!"

Mai smiled at her peppy friend, and everybody laughed at her antics. "Well, let's 'ead out," Lainie said.

Mai nodded, and everybody shuffled outside, Mai last in line and locking the door behind her. She speed walked to catch up to her friends at the elevators, which 'ding'ed as soon as she got there.

Inside the elevator, she tapped her foot nervously. She relaxed slightly when Lainie rested a hand lightly on her shoulder. She really couldn't help it though; she was a nervous, shy person by nature. Many described her as 'sweet' (some as a 'worry wart', but she chose not to dwell on the negative, she had enough of a headache as it was), but she wondered if her family would be okay with her being just 'sweet'. From what she knew, they were a famous martial arts clan, one of the best in the world, and had very strict ideals.

But Lainie's hand on her shoulder helped a little.

* * *

The six gawked. When they had finally got off of the (incredibly slow) elevator, they had made their way through the lobby. They bypassed the desk clerk, ignoring him (aside from Bridgett who made faces at him over her shoulder). They had finally gotten outside only to find… _this_ waiting for them.

'_Oh god_,' Mai thought, '_just what the hell have I gotten us into?_' Normally she didn't cuss - not even in her mind - but she felt that this whole situation called for it. Her father had sent a…a…

"_Is that a limo?_" Lacy asked, dumbfounded.

Yes. Oh dear god, her father sent a limo to pick them up from the hotel. Oh no, people were starting to stare. "J-just get in," Mai ordered, flustered. She didn't really like being the center of attention.

The girls all climbed in, Lacy and Candy getting in last. Candy picked Lacy up and put her in the limo before loading the wheelchair into the trunk. As soon as the door shut, the driver took off at a speed she wasn't even sure was legal.

When the limo finally stopped, everybody took a moment to let their stomachs and their spinning vision settle before getting out. Mai was the last out, taking a deep breath before looking up at the mansion.

'_Well…_' she mused, '_we're here._'

* * *

I TOTALLY FORGOT TO DO THE DISCLAIMER LAST CHAPTER! IT WAS THE FIRST CHAPTER TOO! OMG DON'T SUE MEEEEEE! Here's the disclaimer for both chapters:

Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. If I did, you could bet your life savings Haruhi and Hikaru would end up together.

Sorry it took so long to update, I had to do pre-winter break homework (don't procrastinate kids!)

Anyway, grazie for reading the second chapter and please motivate me with reviews! Ciao!


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